Public presses officials on plans for Chester Heights redevelopment

CHESTER HEIGHTS — About 30 borough residents attended a recent council meeting to express their concerns over the potential development of two large parcels of land.

At issue is the future development of the 31-acre Chester Heights Campmeeting and the 10-acre Rose Hill property, located at the intersection of Llewelyn and Lenni roads. Both tracts would be covered by a proposed zoning overlay district that would allow the construction of clustered housing.

The proposed zoning overlay will be discussed at a public hearing slated for 7 p.m. May 5, and will be held in conjunction with council’s regular monthly meeting.

The venue for the May 5 hearing/meeting is currently the municipal office on Llewelyn Road, but the site may be changed to the clubhouse at the Village of Valleybrook to accommodate the anticipated crowd.

Last December, a hearing for a different zoning overlay, which would have permitted the building of 132 clustered apartment units on 20 acres of the Campmeeting grounds, drew a turnout of 50 residents. In the wake of the public protest, the original overlay proposal was withdrawn by the applicant, Valleybrook Homes LLC.

The greatest difference in the two packed-house meetings was the number of residents’ questions that were left unanswered. Since the applicants were not present on April 7, council members claimed that they could not give answers that might be interpreted as a “predisposition” to pending development plans.

As of April 7, the borough had not yet received a formal plan presentation for either the Campmeeting (revised) or Rose Hill properties. According to a group of neighbors, the owner of the Rose Hill tract wants to build 33 townhouses on the corner lot.

A key piece of any development plan for these parcels will be how much of the cost of a public sewer system the developer will cover.

Bringing public sewer to Chester Heights is a major goal of the borough’s long-term comprehensive plan. To reach that goal, the borough may be willing to trade off high-density housing in exchange for a multimillion-dollar sewer main on Llewelyn Road, as one resident suggested.

Without even a preliminary site plan in hand, however, borough council was unable to speculate.

“Candidly, it’s very premature right now,” council President Michael Pierce said. “I don’t want to sound short or cold about it, but there’s nothing for us to react to yet.”

In an attempt to console the concerned citizens, Pierce devoted the first hour of the April 7 meeting to public comment. A half-dozen residents spoke out against the proposed zoning overlay, and some grew frustrated when their queries yielded little concrete information.

Pierce repeatedly stressed that the May 5 zoning hearing would be the best place to get specific answers to questions, since the applicants and their professional experts would be in attendance.

“These zoning changes are not being done in our interest,” one Llewelyn Road resident asserted, prompting Pierce to note that property owners have rights, too.

After the public comment segment had closed, council voted 6-1 to set the date for the upcoming zoning hearing, with council Vice President Frederick Wood casting the lone vote in dissent.

By scheduling a public hearing, the approved resolution creates a pathway for an amendment to Ordinance 195 to establish the zoning overlay district.

The May 5 hearing is not for land development approval, which will require another, more detailed plan review by borough and county officials.

The text of the approved resolution generally outlines the types of clustered housing that a developer might ultimately build on the Campmeeting and Rose Hill properties.

The proposed overlay would permit a maximum of six housing units per acre. Apartments have been eliminated as potential housing types in this overlay, while the zoning options are listed as Mobile Home Park, split-zoned, or “residential with an existing non-conforming institutional use.”